Remarks by the President After Meeting with African Leaders

Cabinet Room

3:45 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it is a great pleasure to welcome four leaders from Africa, all of whom are doing extraordinary work -- President Sall from Senegal, President Banda from Malawi, President Koroma from Sierra Leone, and Prime Minister Neves from Cape Verde. 

The reason that I'm meeting with these four is they exemplify the progress that we're seeing in Africa.  All of them have had to deal with some extraordinary challenges.  Sierra Leone just 10 years ago was in the midst of as brutal a civil war as we've ever seen.  And yet, now we've seen consecutive fair and free elections.  And under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth. 

When you talk about Malawi, there was a constitutional crisis just last year.  And yet, President Banda has not only been able to be in office and make sure that constitutional order was restored, but has also made significant progress on behalf of her people.  And her personal story of overcoming a history of abuse and leading women throughout her country I think indicates the kind of progress that can be made when you've got strong leadership.

The same is true for His Excellency President Sall.  There were some bumps in the road in terms of transition from the previous President, and yet, the Senegalese rose up at the grassroots level and sustained their democracy. 

And Cape Verde is a real success story.  We were hearing from Prime Minister Neves about the fact that just in a few decades they have moved from a per capita income of maybe $200 a year to now $4,000 a year, and are now moving into the middle of the pack in terms of development levels because of good governance and management.

So what our discussion has focused on is, number one, how do we continue to build on strong democracies; how do we continue to build on transparency and accountability.  Because what we've learned over the last several decades is that when you've got good governance -- when you have democracies that work, sound management of public funds, transparency and accountability to the citizens that put leaders in place -- it turns out that that is not only good for the state and the functioning of government, it's also good for economic development because it gives people confidence, it attracts business, it facilitates trade and commerce. 

And all of these leaders have good stories to tell on that.  They recognize that there’s still more work to be done, and so I’m very pleased that all of them are looking to move forward on the Open Government Partnership that we helped to organize through the United Nations several years ago, and that we are now seeing countries from all across the world sign up for -- setting up international norms for accountability and transparency that can lead to good governance.

We also talked about the economic situation.  And all of us recognize that, although Africa has actually been growing faster than almost every other region of the world, it started from a low baseline and it still has a lot of work to do.  And that means building human capacity and improving education and job skills for rapidly growing and young populations.  It means improving access to energy and transportation sectors.  And so we discussed how the United States can continue to partner effectively with each of these countries.

And then we finally talked about young people generally and how we can mobilize the next generation of Africa leaders.  And individuals like President Koroma have taken great interest in finding additional ways that we can recruit and engage young people not only to get involved in public service but also to get involved in entrepreneurship that helps build these countries.

And so my main message to each of these leaders is that the United States is going to be a strong partner, not based on the old model in which we are a donor and they are simply a recipient, but a new model that’s based on partnership and recognizing that no continent has greater potential or greater upside than the continent of Africa if they in fact have the kind of strong leadership that these four individuals represent. 

And we intend to continue to engage with them through a range of programs -- through the Millennium Challenge, through the USAID, through the PEPFAR programs -- but we’re also looking for new models that can potentially improve our bilateral relations even more.

The last point I’d make -- we all discussed some of the regional challenges involved.  Obviously, economic development, prosperity doesn't happen if you have constant conflict.  And nobody knows that more than these individuals.  Some like President Koroma has seen that firsthand. 

Now many of the threats are transnational.  You’ve seen terrorism infiltrate into the region.  We’ve seen drug cartels that are using West Africa in particular as a transit point.  All of this undermines some of the progress that's been made, and so the United States will continue to cooperate with each of these countries to try to find smart solutions so that they can build additional capacity and make sure that these cancers don't grow in their region.  And the United States intends to be a strong partner for that.

So I just want to say to each of them thank you for your extraordinary work.  You should know that you have a great friend in the United States, in the people of the United States, and in the President of the United States, because we believe that if you’re successful, that ultimately will help us grow our economies and contribute to a more peaceful world, as well.  So thank you very much. 

Thank you, guys.

Q    Mandela?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, obviously we’re all deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela’s health.  He’s a hero I think to all of us.  I’m sure that I speak for the other leaders here.  And we will be keeping him in our thoughts and prayers, and his entire family.  He is as strong physically as he’s been in character and in leadership over so many decades, and hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge.

But we all recognize that he has given everything to his people, the people of South Africa, to the people of the continent, and he’s ended up being an inspiration to all of us.  When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela, and so we wish him all the very best.

Thank you, guys.

END
3:54 P.M. EDT

Statement by the President on Intention to Nominate General Philip Breedlove for U.S. European Command and SACEUR

Today I am proud to announce my intention to nominate General Philip Breedlove as the next Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of U.S. European Command.  For over three decades, General Breedlove has served with distinction in assignments at all levels of the U.S. Air Force and around the globe, from Washington to Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Korea.  As Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the Commander of NATO’s Allied Air Command, General Breedlove has established trust and deep relations with our NATO allies and partners – assets he will draw upon in taking on this important new role on behalf of the United States and the Alliance. 

If confirmed by the Senate, General Breedlove will replace Admiral Jim Stavridis as the Supreme Allied Commander in late Spring. Admiral Stavridis has played an absolutely essential role in strengthening the NATO Alliance to meet the challenges of the 21st century, to include enhancing our collective capabilities and partnerships.  I am grateful for his steadfast service on behalf of our country and NATO.

Executive Order -- Establishment of the Presidential Commission of Election Administration

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
ON ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the efficient administration of Federal elections and to improve the experience of all voters, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is established the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (Commission).

Sec. 2. Membership. (a) The Commission shall be composed of not more than nine members appointed by the President. The members shall be drawn from among distinguished individuals with knowledge about or experience in the administration of State or local elections, as well as representatives of successful customer service-oriented businesses, and any other individuals with knowledge or experience determined by the President to be of value to the Commission.

(b) The President shall designate two members of the Commission to serve as Co-Chairs.

Sec. 3. Mission. (a) The Commission shall identify best practices and otherwise make recommendations to promote the efficient administration of elections in order to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay, and to improve the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, such as members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voters with limited English proficiency.

In doing so, the Commission shall consider as appropriate:

(i) the number, location, management, operation, and design of polling places;

(ii) the training, recruitment, and number of poll workers;

(iii) voting accessibility for uniformed and overseas voters;

(iv) the efficient management of voter rolls and poll books;

(v) voting machine capacity and technology;

(vi) ballot simplicity and voter education;

(vii) voting accessibility for individuals with disabilities, limited English proficiency, and other special needs;

(viii) management of issuing and processing provisional ballots in the polling place on Election Day;

(ix) the issues presented by the administration of absentee ballot programs;

(x) the adequacy of contingency plans for natural disasters and other emergencies that may disrupt elections; and

(xi) other issues related to the efficient administration of elections that the Co-Chairs agree are necessary and appropriate to the Commission's work.

(b) The Commission shall be advisory in nature and shall submit a final report to the President within 6 months of the date of the Commission's first public meeting.

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The Commission shall hold public meetings and engage with Federal, State, and local officials, technical advisors, and nongovernmental organizations, as necessary to carry out its mission.

(b) In carrying out its mission, the Commission shall be informed by, and shall strive to avoid duplicating, the efforts of other governmental entities.

(c) The Commission shall have a staff, which shall provide support for the functions of the Commission.

Sec. 5. Termination. The Commission shall terminate 30 days after it presents its final report to the President.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) To the extent permitted by law, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the General Services Administration shall provide the Commission with such administrative services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, and other support services as may be necessary to carry out its mission on a reimbursable basis.

(b) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.) (the "Act"), may apply to the Commission, any functions of the President under that Act, except for those in section 6 of the Act, shall be performed by the Administrator of General Services.

(c) Members of the Commission shall serve without any additional compensation for their work on the Commission, but shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, to the extent permitted by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).

(d) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(e) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

Remarks by the President on Gun Safety

East Room

11:58 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you, Katerina, for sharing your story.  Reema was lucky to have you as a teacher, and all of us are fortunate to have you here today.  And I’m glad we had a chance to remember her.

Katerina, as you just heard, lost one of her most promising students in Virginia Tech, the shootings there that took place six years ago.  And she and dozens of other moms and dads, all victims of gun violence, have come here today from across the country -- united not only in grief and loss, but also in resolve, and in courage, and in a deep determination to do whatever they can, as parents and as citizens to protect other kids and spare other families from the awful pain that they have endured.

As any of the families and friends who are here today can tell you, the grief doesn’t ever go away.  That loss, that pain sticks with you.  It lingers on in places like Blacksburg and Tucson and Aurora.  That anguish is still fresh in Newtown.  It’s been barely 100 days since 20 innocent children and six brave educators were taken from us by gun violence -- including Grace McDonnell and Lauren Rousseau and Jesse Lewis, whose families are here today. 

That agony burns deep in the families of thousands -- thousands of Americans who have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun over these last 100 days -- including Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed on her way to school less than two months ago, and whose mom is also here today.  Everything they lived for and hoped for, taken away in an instant.  We have moms on this stage whose children were killed as recently as 35 days ago.

I don’t think any of us who are parents can hear their stories and not think about our own daughters and our own sons and our own grandchildren.  We all feel that it is our first impulse, as parents, to do everything we can to protect our children from harm; to make any sacrifice to keep them safe; to do what we have to do to give them a future where they can grow up and learn and explore, and become the amazing people they’re destined to be.   

That’s why, in January, Joe Biden, leading a task force, came up with, and I put forward, a series of common-sense proposals to reduce the epidemic of gun violence and keep our kids safe.  In my State of the Union address, I called on Congress to give these proposals a vote.  And in just a couple of weeks, they will.

Earlier this month, the Senate advanced some of the most important reforms designed to reduce gun violence.  All of them are consistent with the Second Amendment.  None of them will infringe on the rights of responsible gun owners.  What they will do is keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who put others at risk.  And this is our best chance in more than a decade to take common-sense steps that will save lives. 

As I said when I visited Newtown just over three months ago, if there is a step we can take that will save just one child, just one parent, just another town from experiencing the same grief that some of the moms and dads who are here have endured, then we should be doing it.  We have an obligation to try.

Now, in the coming weeks, members of Congress will vote on whether we should require universal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun so that criminals or people with severe mental illnesses can’t get their hands on one.  They’ll vote on tough new penalties for anyone who buys guns only to turn around and sell them to criminals.  They’ll vote on a measure that would keep weapons of war and high-capacity ammunition magazines that facilitate these mass killings off our streets.  They’ll get to vote on legislation that would help schools become safer and help people struggling with mental health problems to get the treatment that they need.

None of these ideas should be controversial.  Why wouldn’t we want to make it more difficult for a dangerous person to get his or her hand on a gun?  Why wouldn’t we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases to take place without a background check?  Why wouldn’t we do that?

And if you ask most Americans outside of Washington -- including many gun owners -- some of these ideas, they don't consider them controversial.  Right now, 90 percent of Americans -- 90 percent -- support background checks that will keep criminals and people who have been found to be a danger to themselves or others from buying a gun.  More than 80 percent of Republicans agree.  More than 80 percent of gun owners agree.  Think about that.  How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything?  (Laughter.)  It never happens. 

Many other reforms are supported by clear majorities of Americans.  And I ask every American to find out where your member of Congress stands on these ideas.  If they're not part of that 90 percent who agree that we should make it harder for a criminal or somebody with a severe mental illness to buy a gun, then you should ask them, why not?  Why are you part of the 10 percent?

There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t get this done.  But the reason we're talking about here today is because it's not done until it’s done.  And there are some powerful voices on the other side that are interested in running out the clock or changing the subject or drowning out the majority of the American people to prevent any of these reforms from happening at all.  They’re doing everything they can to make all our progress collapse under the weight of fear and frustration, or their assumption is that people will just forget about it. 

I read an article in the news just the other day wondering is Washington -- has Washington missed its opportunity, because as time goes on after Newtown, somehow people start moving on and forgetting.  Let me tell you, the people here, they don't forget.  Grace's dad is not forgetting.  Hadiya's mom hasn't forgotten.  The notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in Newtown happens and we've moved on to other things, that's not who we are.  That's not who we are. 

And I want to make sure every American is listening today.  Less than 100 days ago that happened, and the entire country was shocked.  And the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different.  Shame on us if we've forgotten.  I haven't forgotten those kids.  Shame on us if we've forgotten.   

If there's one thing I’ve said consistently since I first ran for this office:  Nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change.  And that’s why it’s so important that all these moms and dads are here today.  But that's also why it’s important that we've got grassroots groups out there that got started and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight.  That's what it’s going to take to make this country safer.  It’s going to take moms and dads, and hunters and sportsmen, and clergy and local officials like the mayors who are here today standing up and saying, this time really is different -- that we’re not just going to sit back and wait until the next Newtown or the next Blacksburg or the next innocent, beautiful child who is gunned down in a playground in Chicago or Philadelphia or Los Angeles before we summon the will to act.

Right now, members of Congress are back home in their districts, and many of them are holding events where they can hear from their constituents.  So I want everybody who is listening to make yourself heard right now. 

If you think that checking someone’s criminal record before he can check out a gun show is common sense, you've got to make yourself heard.  If you’re a responsible, law-abiding gun owner who wants to keep irresponsible, law-breaking individuals from abusing the right to bear arms by inflicting harm on a massive scale, speak up.  We need your voices in this debate.  If you’re a mom like Katerina who wants to make this country safer, a stronger place for our children to learn and grow up, get together with other moms like the ones here today and raise your voices and make yourselves unmistakably heard.

We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn't just a bunch of platitudes -- that we meant it. 

The desire to make a difference is what brought Corey Thornblad here today.  Corey grew up in Oklahoma, where her dad sold firearms at gun shows.  And today, she’s a mom and a teacher.  And Corey said that after Newtown, she cried for days -- for the students who could have been her students; for the parents she could have known; for the teachers like her who go to work every single day and love their kids and want them to succeed.  And Corey says, “My heart was broken.  And I decided now was the time to act, to march, the time to petition, the time to make phone calls, because tears were no longer enough.”  And that’s my attitude.

Tears aren't enough.  Expressions of sympathy aren't enough.  Speeches aren't enough.  We've cried enough.  We've known enough heartbreak.  What we're proposing is not radical, it's not taking away anybody's gun rights.  It's something that if we are serious, we will do. 

Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.  It won't solve every problem.  There will still be gun deaths.  There will still be tragedies.  There will still be violence.  There will still be evil.  But we can make a difference if not just the activists here on this stage but the general public -- including responsible gun owners -- say, you know what, we can do better than this.  We can do better to make sure that fewer parents have to endure the pain of losing a child to an act of violence. 

That’s what this is about.  And if enough people like Katerina and Corey and the rest of the parents who are here today get involved, and if enough members of Congress take a stand for cooperation and common sense, and lead, and don’t get squishy because time has passed and maybe it’s not on the news every single day -- if that’s who we are, if that’s our character that we’re willing to follow through on commitments that we say are important -- commitments to each other and to our kids -- then I’m confident we can make this country a safer place for all of them.

So thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.)

END 
12:13 P.M. EDT